The 10 Mile Hike (no apple trees or acorns involved!)

So something magical seems to happen when i write my goals down and hope for them, and consciously strive for them, but important, NOT BE DESPERATE ABOUT THEM. The same with my dreams, which are different in that they are not just things i can check off of my to do list, but more things i want for my life that may take a bit more time, and maybe some divine assistance, preparation, as well as the right timing.

it seems kinda like a contradiction to really want something so deeply and passionately, yet not be desperate about it. this is something i’ve learned how to do recently, and am still learning how to do. it’s kind of like just trusting and KNOWING. and then just living life and enjoying it!!

yes, goal writing can be useless if done the wrong way, say, in a desperate manner. like you’re gonna FREAK if everything is not checked off by this date and done in this way. and then you just give up because WHY go on, you FAILED anyway! but i’ve learned to just write what i want to hopefully accomplish and if i don’t, then what the hell, i’ll try again next year! and i’m also more honestly aware if something that i’ve wanted to do no longer speaks to me anymore. i’ll just cross it off and get on! and i won’t punish myself for it! REVELATION! 😀

anyway, i’ve had on my list for 2 or maybe 3 years now, to go on a 10 mile hike. i’ve always been drawn to making a goal of some sort, so that i can strive for something. like running the marathon! except that i don’t really run… (and truthfully, it’s for vain reasons, heh heh, but hey i’m being honest! i heard it causes wrinkles, and i feel like they’ll make my boobs sag, haha!! ..shhhh i didn’t just write that)

well, my goal for a 10 mile hike all started out with an 8 mile hike joseph and i went on…which was NOT pretty! ok, the HIKE was pretty and everything i’d hoped it would be. we were in the beautiful catskills, at a wonderful B&B with a claw footed tub! and we had a plan! we would hike 8 miles from the B&B to one of my favorite funkadelic restaurants, The Eggs Nest, and then hike back! coolio!! it would be pretty and perfect!! but…no. it ended up not being so pretty, when we got tired and absolutely FAMISHED!!! like desperately so. before we reached The Egg’s Nest! yes, we’d not even thought to pack water or snacks or anything, really! (something we’ve NEVER forgotten again)

about 7 or so miles into the hike, i started feeling light headed and flushed, and i had to sit down. then hunger hit me like crazy. and i couldn’t get up. luckily there was a bench, and i fell onto it. which was not very convenient cuz we were stuck in the middle of the woods, with nobody to help us get anywhere, and no food!! i was freaking out, like seriously. and poor joseph (who i’m sure was just as tired and famished), was probably freaking out cuz i was freaking out!! i was lying down on the bench with my arms dramatically draped over my face saying “i cannnnnn’t go on anymorrrrrrree, i’m gonna diiiiiiiieeeeee!!!!” “are there any apple trees, we NEEEEEED to find an apple treeeeeee!!!!” “or what about acorns, we need to find an acornnnnnn!!!” “aaaahhhh!!!” but really, i thought we would get stuck there, and it would get dark and then we’d really be screwed. which we look back on now and think it slightly funny… or maybe i’m the only one of the two of us that thinks so… (nose wrinkle)

anyway, joseph did somehow manage to find an acorn, a half rotten one with a hole in it!! i was kind of kidding about that, but it was kind of him to find one for me, wasn’t it? and honestly, we weren’t really gonna eat an acorn even if he’d found a nice one, haha! it just felt comforting to me then and there, that they were around if we really were on the verge of starvation, i mean, squirrels eat them, right!!

well, i passed out for a little bit, then got up and we started walking again, i mean, what else were we to do? so we trudged along for another mile and finally reached The Eggs Nest. then had to call the innkeeper who so kindly drove to us and picked us up, and couldn’t help chuckling at our (ridiculous) grand master hiking plan. and yes, there is a picture that joseph took of me, while i was passed out on the bench, which i will not post here, since it’s embarrassing!

but hey, we went on an 8 mile hike. With no food or water. or a flashlight, either. so there. annnd we learned never to set out on a long hike, unprepared!

we’ve been on a ton of hikes since then but this month we set out on my big goal, a 10 mile hike. no pressure or anything – if we didn’t make it, we would try again next time. and because of our past experience and what we’d learned, we were able to enjoy the hike peacefully, with no drama 🙂 and the strange-in-a-good-way thing is, i felt we were being helped along the way, evident through little coincidences.

so the goal this time was to hike 5 miles, then turn around, and 5 miles back and voila! 10 miles. so we set off on a trail, which a couple of miles into it, ended. so we hiked back the trail, and started on another. so our plan was already off, but whatevs! we sat down on a log and ate apples (notttt from an apple tree, but ones we’d BROUGHT along with us, heh heh, we’ve learned!), and started on another trail, called the orange trail. i started to get nervous about how far we should go, cuz the detour made it hard to know how far we’d actually gone from the starting point. but we kept going, and then the orange trail ended. and literally at that point, my pedometer read 5 miles, exactly. i thought that was an interesting coincidence, and knew it was our sign to turn around and hike back! (i love when i don’t have to make decisions! ;))

anyway, the hike back ended up being shorter cuz of the detour, but there was a lake we could walk around a few times, to lengthen the hike. of course, at 7 miles, i got really tired, that seems to be my breaking point! and i wanted to stop and try for 10 another time. but joseph seemed really adamant about doing 10 miles, so encouraged me to keep going. so i put a bandaid on my blister (yes, we packed them!), and we kept going. and when we hit 8.3, the longest we’ve ever done, joseph gave me a high five 🙂 (he really wanted us to do a happy dance but SERIOUSLY, I was like, what? I was too tired and needed to save my energy!!)

towards the end, we had the option of going around the lake a longer vs shorter way. i was so tired at this point, i just said, “shorter way, no ifs ands or buts!!” so that’s the way we went, and then walked back to my car. and RIGHT when we got to my car, my pedometer read 10 miles, EXACTLY, which i thought was another cool co-inky-dink!! and we were EXHILARATED!! it is the best feeling in the world, when you end a hike, but more so when you’ve reached a goal!! yessss!!! 10 mile hike!! and it was a REAL hike, too, with uphill and downhill, and rocks, streams, and unpaved paths!! i wanted to take a picture here, to document, so walked to a nearby rock to do so, and darn, the pedometer now read 10.01, and that’s the pic i got. but whatevs, 10 mile hike!! we did it! 🙂

and now I think we’ll try for another goal hike, I’m thinking 12 miles… 😉